


cause loves such an old-fashioned word

by mikotoh



Series: ive been down on my knees, and you just keep on getting closer [5]
Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bathing/Washing, Bisexual Arthur Morgan, Blow Jobs, Comfort/Angst, Explicit Consent, Gay John Marston, Hair Washing, Hand Jobs, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide attempt, Love Confessions, M/M, Making Out, Mild Sexual Content, Mild Smut, Morston Week 2020, Nipple Licking, Nipple Play, Oral Sex, Past Relationship(s), Past Suicide Attempt, Relationship Discussions, Shower Sex, Showers, Title from a Queen Song, its mary, john marston has low self-esteem, nipple sucking, past self-harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:28:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25905886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikotoh/pseuds/mikotoh
Summary: John stays the night at Arthur's house for the first time.Partly written for Morston Week 2020's day six prompt, 'bathing together'.
Relationships: John Marston/Arthur Morgan
Series: ive been down on my knees, and you just keep on getting closer [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1874416
Comments: 10
Kudos: 27
Collections: Morston Week 2020





	cause loves such an old-fashioned word

**Author's Note:**

> theres a bit of smut in this chapter, but since its short and not as detailed as in the first two i think its... okay with the mature rating?? if not, just let me know and ill mark it as explicit

John knew he shouldn’t have been nervous about staying over at Arthur’s place for the first time, but unfortunately he was. He felt like a teenage girl having a sleepover with the most popular boy in school. Not that he honestly had that many sleepovers as a kid, but still.

The two had been out for dinner and a movie, and Arthur was the one who suggested John stay over at his house- since it was close by and well after midnight when they left the theater.

John was a bit surprised when Arthur pulled up in front of a duplex and parked, although he supposed he really didn’t know what he was expecting anyway.

He followed behind the older man quietly but froze a bit when they reached the steps going up to the door.

Arthur’s neighbor was leaving his own apartment at the same time they were coming in.

The man gave Arthur and John a warm smile as they headed up the steps, at which the former waved in return.

“Hello, Arthur.”

“Hey, Charles. Good to see you.”

He gestured towards John, who tensed up slightly next to him.

“This is John.”

“Ah, the same John I’ve heard so much about?”

Both men found themselves blushing then and looking away nervously, which just made Charles laugh.

“Sorry, Arthur. But I can’t say you’ve ever been very subtle with your affections. You weren’t with Mary, either.”

Mary? Who was that?

With an awkward laugh Arthur fumbled with his keys to unlock the door.

“Yeah, well… Never claimed to be a very subtle man in the first place.”

“That’s true.”

Charles turned to John then and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. “It’s nice to meet you, John.”

At that moment all John could do was squeak out a “You, too.” as he quickly followed Arthur into his apartment.

Once they were both inside Arthur let out a sigh as he kicked off his shoes.

“Yep… that’s Charles. He’s a good fella, really, just… painfully blunt sometimes.”

“I can see that.”

It didn’t take long for the two of them to end up on the couch together after that, and soon enough they were making out and groping each over their clothing like a couple of teenagers, complete with new wave music played in the background.

But John wasn’t as enthusiastic as he usually was, and Arthur could tell. After a few minutes he pulled away, running a hand through the side of the younger man’s hair as he looked him in the eyes.

“Okay, tell me what’s wrong.”

John stared in return before anxiously rubbing the back of his neck as he avoided Arthur’s line of sight.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”

“It’s about Mary, ain't it?”

At that remark John’s eyes quickly snapped back to Arthur, which only proved his point as he let out a sigh.

“That’s what I figured. Dammit, Charles.”

Arthur pulled back a bit and wrung his hands in his lap.

John watched him momentarily and then shook his head back and forth.

“... I don’t care who you were with before, Arthur. The past is the past.”

“I know, I just… I was putting off telling you about her. Guess I don’t really know why, now that I think about it.”

John started fidgeting with his own hands then as Arthur continued.

“She was the only person I’ve ever loved. And I think she loved me too, but… I wasn’t enough for her.”

The older man scratched at the stubble on his chin and shifted slightly in place.

“There’s more to that sad story, but we can talk about that another time. I don’t feel like reminiscing right now if that’s alright with you.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Awkward silence fell between the two of them then, before John abruptly jumped up from the couch. 

“Do you mind if I take a shower? I’ll be quick, I promise. Then we can… pick up where we left off.”

Arthur blinked a couple times in response, and then nodded.

“Sure. Go right ahead. The bathroom with the shower is connected to my bedroom, over there.”

He pointed to it and John went in that direction, stopping in Arthur’s bedroom first to strip out of his clothing.

Arthur peered in from his place in the living room, internally wishing he could be the one taking off John’s clothes for him- but then, an idea popped into his head.

He was, admittedly, still curious about what John was hiding under his ever-present choker, so perhaps this was the perfect opportunity to find out once and for all.

Plus, well, he supposed he wanted to see John all wet and naked in front of him too. Maybe they could kill two birds with one stone?

If John agreed to it, that is.

Arthur nodded to himself as he stood up and headed to his bedroom, pausing in the doorway to watch John from behind for a second before clearing his throat.

John, already shirtless, stopped right as he was about to pull his pants off and looked over his shoulder.

“Yeah?”

And despite everything that had happened between them (and multiple times at that), it took him a second to find his voice to speak.

“Can I, uh… join you in there?”

God, he felt like a dumb, inexperienced kid right then; one that was desperately trying to sneak a peek at his crush in the gym locker room showers.

John stared in surprise for a moment, but when he nodded in agreement, there didn’t appear to be any hesitation or nervousness behind it. Or at least, if it _was_ there, it wasn’t because of bathing together specifically.

“Yeah… sure.”

Well, that went better than expected, at least.

Arthur swallowed hard as he pulled off his own clothing (probably a bit too enthusiastically), keeping an eye on John out of the corner of his eye. 

He could see him undoing the knot on his choker after he’d taken everything else off- but before Arthur could get a good look at his neck, the younger man had already disappeared into the bathroom.

Arthur frowned a little to himself and finished undressing, following after his boyfriend. He noticed John was deliberately looking away from him as Arthur turned on the water to let it warm up.

Once it was the right temperature, he stepped in. 

John joined him a second later and finally directly faced the older man, although his eyes were glued firmly to the shower wall beside them.

Across the entire length of the front of his neck was a single thin, white scar. As opposed to the ones on his face, which were jagged and uneven, this one danced over his skin with a perfectly smooth edge.

Arthur could feel his jaw drop ever so slightly once it set in what exactly that scar must have been from- and John’s efforts to keep it concealed up until this point seemingly confirmed his suspicions.

“John… I…”

A sad, weary smile from the younger man.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Couldn’t even off myself the right way. Pathetic, right?”

John hugged his arms close to his body and started to turn back around, but Arthur’s hand on his shoulder in a tight grip stopped him.

He finally looked back up and was met with a deathly intense stare.

“Don’t talk like that. Ever. I mean it.”

Arthur moved in and pulled John into a hug then, squeezing him as hard as possible without actually causing any pain.

“... I don't know everything you’ve been through, but all that matters is that you’re still here. That’s not pathetic. You’re _brave_ , John. Braver than most everyone else I know. I want… no, I _need_ you to know that. Please.”

John stared with wide eyes past Arthur’s shoulder into the hug, before finally wrapping his arms around him and pressing his face into the crook of Arthur’s neck as his eyes grew watery and his throat started to clog up.

In voice as hoarse as it had ever been before, he whispered out a ragged “Thank you.” as his whole body started to shake slightly from the raw emotion he was experiencing.

Arthur closed his eyes and started caressing his hands up and down John’s back, trying to get him to relax and feel better under the soothing stream of warm water. He pulled back just a bit so he could scatter gentle kisses along the scar on John’s neck. The other man sighed out in quiet contentment, gripping onto Arthur’s back and digging his nails into his skin.

After a second Arthur moved to kiss everywhere else on John’s body that he could reach- his shoulders down to his arms, his fingers, the tops of his hands, his fingers. He tilted his head forward to give one last kiss to the space between John’s pecs, before gingerly pressing his lips to one of his nipples and sucking at it a little.

John drew in a harsh breath and chewed on his bottom lip.

“Nnngh, Arthur…!”

He lifted a hand then to tangle it in Arthur's hair, which was enough encouragement for the latter to run his tongue over the nipple and then bite it ever so carefully as John let out a loud gasp.

"Aaahh…!"

But then Arthur suddenly pulled away and looked back up with a frown.

"Sorry, do ya wanna… keep going?"

"H-Huh? What are you talking about?"

Arthur rubbed at the back of his neck in apprehension.

"I dunno, I just… I don't wanna do anything if you're, ya know… not in the right mind to. Emotionally."

John just stared at Arthur in response, before snorting with laughter as his boyfriend started to turn bright red.

"Jesus, Arthur, did you already forget about us getting into it on the couch just a little while ago?"

"Don't laugh at me, you jerk. You were being all weird then too anyway because of my ex. Just trying to be careful, is all."

John smiled and put both of his hands on the sides of Arthur's face.

"I know, I know. Don't worry. It's… nice of you to ask. But I'm fine."

He leaned in then to give him a kiss on the lips.

"You're a real gentleman, Arthur Morgan."

At that Arthur finally grinned and reached up to playfully tweak John's other nipple in response, eliciting a surprised yelp that quickly turned into a moan.

"Don't think what I wanna do to you counts as gentlemanly in the slightest."

Once John caught his breath he just laughed again, even as Arthur dropping to his knees on the floor in front of him made his cheeks flush pink.

"Just try not to slip and bust your head open, okay? Don't want you to break your ass and have to explain what happened in the emergency room."

"Ha. Same goes for you, then."

John opened his mouth to say something else, but Arthur grabbing his cock and slowly starting to stroke it immediately stopped that train of thought.

"Mmm…!"

Arthur watched for John's reaction carefully, already starting to increase the speed of his strokes. He realized in the back of his head then that they were probably going to be wasting a lot of water doing this in the shower, but oh well. 

They were young and, quite possibly, in love- although neither of them had actually said as much.

Arthur reached down and took his own cock into his free hand as he leaned forward to bring John’s into his mouth, causing the younger man to cry out in pleasure.

"A-Ah! Arthur…!"

Things proceeded as usual then, with Arthur doing everything he could to drive John over the edge with pleasure, until the latter was tugging on the older man's hair in an attempt to push him away.

"W-Wait, I'm….close…"

But Arthur just shook his head slightly and kept himself where he was, bobbing his head up and down to the same rhythm as his own strokes.

He knew John cumming now would mean they'd need time to rest before getting back into it, but that was okay.

It wasn't long before John reached his limit and let out one last moan of ecstasy as he came into Arthur's mouth, with the other man following suit only a moment later and spilling his seed into his hand with a muffled groan.

After a second Arthur pulled away and wiped at his mouth with the back of hand as he caught his breath, before standing back up with a smile.

"Thanks for letting me interrupt your shower. I can help you finish now, if ya want."

John tried to steady his breathing and raised an eyebrow in response."

"Ain't that _just_ what happened?"

"Not like that. Here."

Arthur reached over and grabbed a bottle of shampoo off the shower rack, squirting some of it into his hands.

"Turn around."

John hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded and turned with his back to his boyfriend.

Arthur raised both hands then and started working the liquid through his dark, wavy hair with his fingers, massaging his scalp gently.

John could feel his breath hitch suddenly at the touch. He'd never had anyone wash his hair before.

Well, maybe his birth mother had, but that was a long time ago and he didn't remember it even if it did happen.

It felt really good, though, and he ended up closing his eyes and leaning back into the touch.

Behind him, Arthur smirked.

"You really need to wash your hair more often, you know. It gets greasy real fast."

"Shut up."

Arthur just laughed as he tilted John's head back further to rinse the shampoo out. Once it was all gone he grabbed the soap and a loofah and repeated the same process, just on John's body instead.

The feeling was… indescribable, really. To be pampered and taken care of by your lover in such a way.

To John, it was like they were the only two people in the world right then. 

And those feelings of bliss quickly led to his thoughts getting carried away.

"... I love you."

What he'd said didn't set in until he noticed Arthur had stopped moving his hands, and then he let out a short gasp as the realization set in.

John flipped around in place then and stared at Arthur as his face turned bright red (unfortunately not from the heat of the shower), trying to think of what to say as the older man's cheeks grew to reach the same shade.

"That's… I meant… I didn't…!"

When that clearly wasn't working, he finally just groaned and hid behind his hands.

"God, I am _so_ stupid."

But before he could say anything else, Arthur had wrapped his arms around John's waist to pull him closer.

"John."

After a minute he reluctantly lowered his hands from his face- only to see Arthur giving him a goofy grin as the water splashed across his body.

"I… I love you, too."

At that revelation all John could do was stare in shock, sputtering out a "You do?" as Arthur nodded in return.

"Yeah."

"I… I didn't… You… Really? _Me?_ You sure about that?"

"Positive."

John looked away in disbelief and held his head in one hand.

"But, Arthur, I… I'm not…"

"Don't. Luckily for you, John, you don't get to tell me how I feel. And… I do, love you. I was lyin' earlier when I said Mary was the only person I've loved. I just… hadn't worked up the courage to say anything."

Arthur scratched at his head nervously as John blinked a few times in surprise. 

"Hopefully you'll have me, even though I am a coward."

"Oh, Arthur…"

John finally felt a grin cross his face then as he threw his arms around Arthur's neck and dragged him into a passionate kiss, which Arthur had no problem returning as he squeezed the younger man's waist tighter.

Their confessions to each other were wholly unexpected, but more than perfect in their spontaneous simplicity.

John only pulled away when he felt the water start to get cold, and even then he was still grinning like a dork.

"Carry me back to your room?"

Arthur chuckled and moved to carefully sweep John up and into his arms as he shut the water off.

"Your wish is my command, princess."

**Author's Note:**

> im sorry charles i love you but i have no idea how to write you
> 
> also my thing for my favs being called princesses has unfortunately been passed to john 😔
> 
> title is from the song under pressure by queen and the late great david bowie


End file.
